Vayeishev

At the beginning of the parsha the pesukim tell us that Yosef had two dreams. The first dream was with bundles of grain. Yosef’s bundle stood up tall and the other bundles surrounded Yosef’s bundle and bowed down to his bundle. The second dream was with a sun, a moon, and 11 stars which bowed down to Yosef.

The Beis HaLevi asks: why by the first dream does the Torah mention וישנאו אותו, and they hated him, and by the second dream it says ויקנאו בו, and they were jealous of him. Why did the first dream cause hatred while the second dream caused jealousy?

The Beis HaLevi answers that the first dream was referring to richness and material success in this world, reflecting that the brothers would need Yosef for sustenance. Therefore, he was shown bundles of wheat bowing to his bundle. However, the second dream symbolized Yosef excelling over the brothers in ruchniyus. The sun, moon, and stars which are in the heavens symbolize ruchniyus.

The Beis HaLevi explains when one is richer than another in gashmiyus it’s not an intrinsic ma’aleh; it is only a side ma’aleh. In truth, the rich person and the poor person are the same. The difference is only in their belongings. People say about their friends who are richer than themselves, “my wallet is embarrassed from his wallet but I’m not embarrassed of him.” This is because the ma’aleh is not intrinsic to the person.

The ma’aleh of ruchniyus which is Torah and avodah is intrinsic. One who is greater in ruchniyus than others has an intrinsic ma’aleh which automatically makes the person himself greater.

The Beis HaLevi says, the passuk by the first dream states ותשתחוינה לאלומתי they bowed down to my bundle, not to Yosef himself. This is because the ma’aleh was in his possessions and not in Yosef himself. The passuk by the second dream states משתחוים לי “they were bowing down to me” because the ma’aleh was intrinsic to Yosef himself.

The first dream didn’t mention jealousy because the brothers who were tzaddikim weren’t jealous of Yosef’s riches. Rather they hated him because he thought and said that they would need to come to him for food and that he would rule over them. The second dream which was about ruchniyus says ויקנאו בו, they were jealous of him but didn’t hate him for this. They were jealous of him, which is allowed, as it states אל יקנא לבך בחטאים כי אם ביראת ה’, don’t be jealous of sins but rather of yiras Shamayim.

May Hashem help us acquire the special ma’aleh of ruchniyus and become intrinsically a different being!